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152. Project Based Learning and Teacher Burnout: How PBL Restores Teacher Agency and Joy with Joel Smith
Episode 15225th February 2026 • The Resilient Teacher Podcast • Brittany Blackwell, Teacher Burnout Tips
00:00:00 00:35:29

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If you have ever felt like you spend more time managing compliance than actually teaching, this conversation is going to hit home.

In this episode, I sit down with former educator Joel Smith to unpack what is really driving teacher burnout right now. We dig into fear based compliance, evaluation pressure, stacked cognitive load, and what happens when teachers lose agency in their own classrooms.

Joel shares how project based learning can shift the entire classroom experience, not just for students, but for teachers too. When we are trusted as professionals and given room to design authentic learning experiences, something powerful happens. Energy returns. Confidence grows. Joy becomes visible again.

And yes, we talk about how to actually start.

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📝 Want a FREE personalized step-by-step guide to crushing teacher burnout? Take the Personalized Burnout Recovery Roadmap quiz here!

 ❓Get your Questions Answered on the Resilient Teacher Podcast: Ask anything about burnout, recovery, self-care, simplification, and get your questions answered on the show. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/ask

✨While this podcast is meant to be helpful for teachers and their mental health, it is not a replacement for therapy or medical care from a licensed professional. Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/talkspace to save $100 on your first month of accessible therapy from a licensed professional by using the code: SPACE!

🚨Get on the Waitlist for the Automate Your Classroom course & be the first to know how to simplify teacher tasks and create automations so that you can reduce time wasting tasks, set it and forget it, and have the time to do the things you actually want to do in teaching here!

👩🏻‍💻Get on the Individualized EduCare Program Waitlist and be the first to know when the doors open & special promotions here!

💬PS: Has this podcast been helpful for you? Quick! Screenshot this episode, add it to IG, and tag me @teachingmindbodyandsoul  This helps spread the word of this podcast to other educators.

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